This invention relates to apparatus for delimbing felled trees, and more particularly to such apparatus in which limbs sheared from the tree are reduced to chips and the delimbed trees are stacked to one side of the apparatus.
Felled trees generally must be delimbed prior to loading for transportation and for other reasons. Such delimbing generally in the past has been done manually, with a workman using a hand-held power saw moving along the tree lying on the ground and cutting individual limbs from the tree. Not only is this dangerous for the workman, in that he is in a position to be injured, but it also produces loosely lying limbs which then must be gathered and piled. Such limbs further create a problem in that they then must be either reduced to chips by feeding to a chipping device, or burned, which often is prohibited because of fire hazards or air pollution standards.
Attempts have been made in the past to develop apparatus which will mechanically delimb a tree and take care of the other problems set out above. Such prior attempts, however, have not been altogether successful, as is evidenced by the continued manual removal of limbs, with the attendant stacking of limbs, problems of removal of the limbs from the site, and dangers to workmen.
A general object of the present invention is to provide novel apparatus for mechanically delimbing trees rapidly and efficiently and thereby overcome the problems set out above attendant in prior manual and previously designed delimbing operations.
More specifically, an object of the invention is to provide novel apparatus for delimbing felled trees which supports a tree for movement longitudinally through the apparatus, and includes powered driving means for moving a tree under power longitudinally therethrough and shearing means for shearing limbs from the tree as it is drawn through the apparatus. Chipper means beneath the shearing means is operable to reduce the limbs removed from the tree to chips which then are blown into a pile or into awaiting trucks for transportation. Side shifter means downstream from the shearing means is operable to deposit a delimbed tree on a stack or on waiting log bunks or log truck beds as desired.
Such apparatus, therefore, is operable to eliminate burning of debris by reducing the removed limbs to chips, or hog material which may be used for other purposes.
Further, the novel apparatus of the invention eliminates the need for manual delimbing, gathering and piling of removed limbs, and other manual steps which previously have been required.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide novel means for cutting off the top end of a tree under a preselected minimum diameter as it is carried through the delimbing apparatus and dropping the top of the tree into the chipper means along with the removed limbs for reduction to chips.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide novel apparatus for delimbing felled trees which includes a support platform mounted on wheels, which platform has sufficient length for handling desired lengths of trees, yet which has a pivoted forward section which may be swung up and over and laid atop a rear section of the platform to shorten the same for transportation.